Misano MotoGP Reaction: John Hopkins takes third behind Aussie duo in Misano

John Hopkins scored his second successive podium in Misano this afternoon, but admitted he was powerless to fight with Suzuki team-mate Chris Vermeulen and dominant race winner Casey Stoner.

Like in last month’s Czech Republic GP in Brno, the American looked like he would pose the most serious threat to Stoner’s victory challenge as he quickly moved into second place.

But it was obvious that Hopkins was struggling to match Stoner’s pace and when Vermeuken dived underneath him at turn two on lap six, he had to settle for a lonely ride to third place.

It was Hopkins’ third podium of the season and boosted his hopes of finishing third in the world championship as he closed to within 28-points of luckless Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.

The Repsol Honda was involved in a second corner pile-up instigated by Randy de Puniet and Hopkins said: “I was lucky to miss all that. I got a good start again with the old moto cross days paying off with the gate starts. I tried to stay with Casey as long as I could and pushed the front through the long, fast right and that was a bit scary. I knew Chris was right behind me, I was watching the screen on the back straight and could see two blue bikes so I knew it could only have been Chris. I just put my head down because I knew that he had a strong pace. I tried to hang on as long as I could and slowly started losing the gap a little bit.”

Hopkins also revealed he lost crucial time while replacing his left knee-slider that had worked loose, but admitted that he still wouldn’t have beaten his team-mate.
“My knee slider had fallen off the Velcro and luckily caught itself so going down the back straight I had to take it off and put it back on. I lost two seconds but other than that I didn’t really have anything for Casey and Chris. It’s my second successive podium and hopefully we can make a habit of it and make it a dent on Dani for third, “added Hopkins.